The Polder Village of Kreileroord / Polderdorp Kreileroordartist Andrea Stultiensyear 2002language(s) Dutch, Englishlocation NETHERLANDS, Kreileroordregion 1 North (North)index no. 01.1.09media Bookabout the media book with photographs of the polder village of Kreileroord by Andrea Stultiens and text by Gerard Rooijakkers

about the project Kreileroord is a village in the north of the Netherlands, built in the 1950s after Slootdorp, Middenmeer and Wieringerwerf. The Wieringermeer Polder was drained not all that long ago (1930) to create space for villages designed on a drawing board – like Kreileroord with six streets of terraced houses, a sports ground, an ice rink and a multipurpose gym which doubles up as a village hall.

The inhabitants of new villages do not share a history. Each of them takes their own history with them and together they build a new one. This is even recognised in the dictionary definition of the word 'village', which does not only refer to ‘a group of houses and a church situated in a rural area, smaller than a town’, but also to ‘a commmunity of residents’.

Andrea Stultiens took photographs of the residents of Kreileroord while they were training, partying and playing. The flat landscape seems bleak at times with barren trees and heavy clouds hanging low on the horizon, but is cast into relief by happy family photos. In the book the recent photos taken by Stultiens are shown alongside snapshots from the archives of the villagers. Together they represent the young history of the land, the village and the people.

The Polder Village of Kreileroord forms part of a ‘twin publication’: in the other part Stultiens researches the village of Sint Odilienberg in the province of Limburg in the south of the Netherlands; the antithesis of Kreileroord in every respect.

about artist and participants Andrea Stultiens (1974) studied photography in the Dutch cities of Utrecht (HKU) and Breda (St. Joost). She is fascinated by the impact people have on their surroundings and vice-versa. Her pictures are taken at specific locations and feature, amongst others, private houses, landscapes and villages - but they are almost invariably a vehicle for recognisable situations. Gerard Rooijakkers is Professor of Dutch Ethnology at the University of Amsterdam.